LibDem Blogs - Archived! - Saturday 2nd February 2008

The Westminster Hour: Sunday 3 February, 10pm

{Appearing on Radio 4's The Westminster Hour with Carolyn Quinn} I'm back on The Westminster Hour this Sunday. It's on Radio 4 from 10pm. If you miss the show you'll be able to listen again on their website. If you want to get advanced notice of my media appearances like this one, you can use the media events service at Flock Together. You've got three choices: Using this feed: or By email: register at FlockTogether and pick Media appearances as one of the categories of events you want to be emailed about. (If you are an existing Flock Together ...

Jacksons Lane funded for another year

Hurrah! Brilliant! A reprieve for Jacksons Lane Community Centre. The Arts Council decided to fund us for one more year. Of course am over the moon, having petitioned, met with them, done my column on Jackson's Lane and generally lobbied and agitated as much as I and my colleagues could. Thank goodness. We now have time to make sure that when that year is up - Haringey Council has put in place the commitment and funding necessary to reassure the Arts Council that it is really supported by the local authority. Lack of commitment by Haringey Council was the stated ...

Homeowners / home buyers: sign up to to stop the Church of England and Solicitors screwing you over

Under an ancient law that still stands on the statute books, many homeowners can be approached by the Church of England and told they are liable to pay for repairs to their parish church. The home doesn’t even have to be that close to the church (more here) In the most well known case, a farm owner was obliged to fork out £95k by his local CofE diocese, having to sell the farm to raise the cash. This is horrible for them, but it also has a knock-on effect for anyone buying a house -Chancel Repair searches and Chancel Repair ...

Derek Conway on his son Freddie

From BBC News: He would go up and down like a fiddler's elbow while he was away.

Handbags! Not so extraordinary gentlemen

I was somewhat underwhelmed to read in Empire this month about alleged tensions on the set of the film The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (as I insist on calling it) between Sean Connery and director Stephen Norrington. After 7 pages, it emerges that this consisted of little more than not getting on very well and Norrington on one occasion goading Connery to punch him, which Connery declined to do. Oh, and one of the stages got flooded. Ho. Hum. It is particularly unfortunate that we only get to read one side of the story: Connery is certainly a bona fide ...

Missing - whatever happened to the Liberals

I lived in Belgium and France for many a year. When I got back I was told not to worry - my Liberal Party had merged with some renegade Labour defectors (well, three-quarters of them) and formed a new and successful party under the leadership of a former Royal Marine Commando. Suspecting that this might be the ramblings of a demented soap opera script writer, I decided to suspend my disbelief and join in. I found enough former colleagues from my YL days to make this plausable and I got to work. I've enjoyed it. The Liberal Democrats have gained ...

Muff Winwood and Sparks

I knew that if I posted enough Sunday music videos I would be able to start finding trivial connections between them. Go back a few weeks and I chose "This Town Aint Big Enough for the Both of Us" by Sparks. And if you read the history of that song you find this: Ron Mael and Russell Mael were shocked when producer Muff Winwood and the Island Records company thought This Town Aint Big Enough For Both of Us was a single. Muff Winwood added the gunshots gimmick in studio and bet his friend Elton John that this song would ...

Bad news for the Tories in the Sunday papers

Conservative Home reports that, in tomorrow's papers: At least three Tory MPs look set to be facing tough questions over their use of expenses. Oh dear, how awful for them.

England humiliated by Wales

I have just finished watching two different England sides play Wales on the BBC. In the first half England were supreme. In the second half they were worse than ordinary. Sloppy sloppy sloppy. In was plain embarrassing. Hat’s off to Wales for the come back but the only managed it because we were so bad. [...]

Hooked on the Hollyoaks theme

Click here

50 years after Munich, why do we still face forwards in aircraft

It is fascinating to reflect that one of our greatest national heroes is amongst us, probably, because he happened to be in a rear-facing seat in the aeroplane involved in the 1958 Munich Air disaster. He was fortunately using a facility now unavailable to virtually all of the flying public. On Parkinson recently, Sir Bobby Charlton mentioned that he reckoned he survived the Munich air disaster

NFL coming to Wembley again

After a successful visit by the New York Giants and the Miami Dolphins at Wembley in 2007, the NFL has announced that not only will there be at least one game in each of 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons. This year the New Orleans Saints will play the San Diego Chargers. New Orleans being the [...]

It's not quite Whiskey Galore

Anyone who has seen the classic British film "Whisky Galore" will know what I am on about when I say that the cargo washed ashore from the stricken ferry off the coast of Blackpool does not quite match up to the booty in the film. However, should someone want to make a low budget remake, the title "Biscuits Galore" might work.

Channel 4 News and political families

Once again, I am probably waking up to something which has been common knowledge for donkey's years, rather like my favourite Deputy Dawg character, Vince Van Gopher. After some almighty ruccus had kicked off, Gopher would belatedly pop up from beneath the ground and say: "What happened Muskie" Anyway, I have only just realised that Katie (And now now here's Katie with more of today's

Sweeney Todd

No spoilers. It's my own fault; didn't realise I was being taken to see a musical. It's OK if you like musicals. And blood. And body parts. Johnny Depp was very professional; sounded too much like Captain Sparrow throughout, though he does do that accent very well. Timothy Spall is clearly developing a line in Victorian baddies. And they did very well turning a musical into a film, and not just filming the musical. Just not my cup of tea.

Support for Referendum on EU Membership

Writing in the EDP today regarding a referendum on EU membership, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesman Simon Wright said:

Conway - the Canadian angle

The Conway episode has attracted quite a bit of interest in Canada. That's because Michel Pratte, currently working for the MP, is a Canadian student. Unfortunately, perhaps, for the British press, Mr Pratte's father, Guy, is a prominent lawyer who is currently advising former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. According to the Victoria Times Colonist, Guy Pratte "told Canwest News Service

On the Streets of Leyton

I was out in the pale winter sun this morning, delivering leaflets in the Leyton ward by-election in Waltham Forest, where local activist Winnie Smith is aiming to recapture the seat held until 2006 by Barry Smith (no relation). He was ousted by a scurrilous campaign by Labour’s Miranda Grell, who maliciously spread the false [...]

Winter in Pitlochry ... and unsightly overgrowth at High Mill

As the photos above show, it was a pretty snowy day in Pitlochry today, where I and a couple of colleagues from Dundee Liberal Democrats were again helping our Perth & Kinross Highland Ward colleagues, who are contesting a by-election later this month. Although the snow was on, it was actually a beautiful morning - and the first time I have canvassed a distillery! (see right) On a totally different matter, I have received complaints from residents in the High Mill and Shepherd's Loan area that the area to the north of High Mill has become overgrown again. Back in ...

Tooth Review: 1571 (obligatory spoiler warning)

{Prog 1571} {Alternative design to Prog 1571 cover} Quote of the Week: “Bhuu-rrpp! Ugh. Kid was stringier than he looked. Hey, Shockeye, what’s fer dessert Y’got any more o’that blood custard an’ them sweet pickled twins left” - Buffalo Bill Cody sings for his supper in Stickleback. Cover: Brendan McCarthy is back from la-la land, drawing his first 2000AD cover since 1991. And what a great cover it is too. I have to say I prefer the final version compared to the alternate version I found on McCarthy’s website (also pictured). Credit too then to veteran 2000AD designer Steve Cook ...

NHS concerns

As anyone viewing First Minister's Questions last week would see, Nicol Stephen, Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Scotland, confronted the First Minister about the devastating impact his waiting times targets have had on NHS patients. Nicol demanded that ministers come clean about how many patients have been dumped from NHS waiting lists in order to meet the Scottish Governments waiting times targets. Nicol said, The government needs to come clean about how many other doctors and surgeons have been told to delete patients in order to meet targets. We need to know how many health boards have been sending ...

Women voters and Clinton/Obama

There is an interesting article here from the New Yourt Times about a sample of female attitudes towards the Democratic presidential candidates. I would, however, treat with caution how representative are a sample of women from Hillary Clinton’s own state and predominantly of a limited age group.

Do our drinking laws need reviewing.

Why do some people these days drink so much alcohol and so quickly. I remember when I was a young ( yes I know many years ago ) we would go for a pint after work may be two and then home for a good nights sleep by about 10.30pm before work the next day. Today many people seem to go out at 10.30pm and drink themselves solid till 2 or 3 in the morning then are fit for nothing...

Rovers stun Leeds with two second half goals

United: Lucas, Kenton, Heath, Michalik, Sheehan, Prutton, Hughes (capt), Howson, Johnson, Beckford,, Elding. Subs: Huntington, Martin, Carole, Flo, Sweeney. Tranmere: Coyne, Stockdale, Goodison, Kay, A. Taylor, Myrie-Williams, McClaren, Jennings, Sherriff, Zola, Moore. Subs: Achterberg, Greenacre, Charley, Mullen, Curran. Ref: S. Mathieson A standing ovation greeted new Manager, Gary McAllister as he walked out at Elland Road, smartly dressed in suit and tie. Macca made six changes to the team that lost at Southend and he included new signings Alan Sheehan, Lubo Michalik and Anthony Elding. The first real chance in the game, that began at 100 miles per hour, fell ...

Something for the Weekend: Money, money, money

I was planning to pay my son thousands of pounds of public money to write this week’s Something for the Weekend for me. Unfortunately, he didn’t do any of the work. And then I remembered that I don’t have a son. Or access to thousands of pounds of public money. So I done it all [...]

Lord of the Rings and the nitpickers

Error in one of the Lord of the Rings films or not The nitpickers don't seem to be able to agree with themselves (not even when a Professor wades in).

EU President Blair NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

I see Tony Blair wants to be President of Europe - but only if he is given "real" power in defence and trade affairs. Presumably, that would be the power to ignore the wishes of the people in crawling up to extreme right-wing US Presidents to pre-emptively invade a country in the cause of "defence", would it On your bike sunshine. He's not going to get the job anyway. Merkel is against it, so

Tony Blair - President of Europe Heaven help us!

I suppose, given there is no vacancy for pope, it is the next best option in his undoubted drive for world domination! Particularly worrying is his declared desire for an EU President to have more powers over foreign affairs.........I find myself taking back that sigh of relief when he stood down as PM. With the potential for the last vestiges of the neo-cons being swept away in less than a year as Bush vacates the White House, it is really scary to think that their influence may continue through their compliant lapdog taking on this key role in Europe.

Knotty Ash - and sunshine

Off to Knotty Ash this morning to help colleagues with their campaigning. A dog free session - and after yesterday what a relief that the sun came out!

Survey barge aground at Redcar

Colin Crawford took these pictures, this morning, near The Stray at Redcar. This small barge has been doing survey work for the offshore windfarm at Coatham bay.

Transfer over to New Blog

The time has come for me to just have one BLOG - please visit my new space. I'll miss BLOG Spot!

Praise for a Lib Dem from Guido Fawkes

I couldn’t believe what I was reading when this paragraph from Guido’s post on politicians popped up in my RSS reader this morning: The "good constituency MP" is the stuff of legend, furthering his voter’s interests, dealing with their problems with a staff well versed in welfare issues, righting wrongs and often acting as the counsel [...]

Suggestions for reform on staffing

I have no problem with an MP employing 1, 2 or 200 members of their family so long as they are the best 200 for the job. So let me make a simple suggestion on how reform could be achieved Set up a common set of job descriptions and expected skills for the core jobs an MP may advertise (case worker, office manager, diary secretary etc). Within each area establish a job ladder of expanded skill

Time for some real reform on MPs expenses

Yesterday was the first working day of the new month. On starting work I extracted all my fuel receipts from the car, pulled out my government credit card receipts opened up three spreadsheets and two web pages and completed my end of month financial return. No doubt many other civil servants did the same thing. On expenses I am governed by specific rules I have limits on hotel room costs, how

Do we want a return to the terrorist training camps in Afghanistan

I am always concerned when I read people stating that we should withdraw from Afghanistan or when I read about out spineless European allies refusing to send troops to help in Afghanistan because I fear that people don't see the consequences of such actions. Afghanistan was the most repressive appalling state prior to 2001. Do we remember just how awaful the Taliban were, and they were, in the main, not even Afghans. The Taliban and their al-qua'eda allies were largely from Pakistan or the middle east. Afghans referred to the Taliban as "arabs", which is a term to mean people ...

Sorry Nick, but on the Conway affair, you're wrong

And so, our glorious Leader has spoken on what should be done following the Conway affair. Unfortunately, he's wrong. This week, a junior officer in HM Revenue & Customs was given a jail sentence for defrauding the department by means of false expense claims. The judge felt that her behaviour put at risk trust in those responsible for public funds. It is my personal view that this was entirely

Incapacity benefit

The Daily Telegraph reports today that "Up to two thirds of people claiming incapacity benefit are not entitled to the state handout, the Government's new welfare adviser warns today." What they're really reporting, if you read the next few paragraphs, is that this investment banker David Freud has plucked a figure out of the air and they are very happy to make hay with it. Reporting more suited to the Daily Mail, I would have thought. Compounded a bit lower down the page by them publishing a picture of "David Freud the new Work and Pensions Secretary". No, DT, the ...

Safari Kenya!

Well, as promised to some people recently, here is the video of the safari I did in December to Kimana in Kenya, near Mount Kilimanjaro.

Holidays in Hell

Visitors to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina might have joined the citys appalled and traumatised citizens in bearing witness to: a deer trying to avoid the rising water by jumping from rooftop to rooftop, only to be gobbled by a shark swum in with the Gulf of Mexico. Im sure theres a metaphor in there somewhere. Sharks are also of concern to Jubba Airways, a fine carrier no doubt, and one of extremely few which can deliver you to Somalia. Jubba boasts of top vacation destination Mogadishu, that: For visitors the main landmarks in town are the ...

New allegations against Conway show him in the worst possible light

The Telegraph today publishes new allegations against Derek Conway, the worst of which intimates that he halved his secretary's pay whilst paying his wife £40,000 a year out of his allowances. "Mr Conway's political career was effectively ended last week after he was heavily censured for paying his son Freddie about £50,000, even though there is no evidence of any work being conducted. It also emerged that his other son, Henry, a flamboyant regular at exclusive London nightclubs, picked up more than £32,000 from his father's taxpayer-funded staffing allowance. The MP's wife is also on the payroll, receiving almost £40,000 ...

Educational snobbery

I blogged about it, among other things, here. And now I find that the BBC's education correspndent agrees with me. But he said it better.

A bid for power

This morning's Guardian devotes its front page to making our blood run cold with the revelation that Tony Blair doesn't just want to become European President but actually wants some real power to go with it: Tony Blair has been holding discussions with some of his oldest allies on how he could mount a campaign later this year to become full-time president of the EU council, the prestigious new job characterised as "president of Europe". Blair, currently the Middle East envoy for the US, Russia, EU and the UN, has told friends he has made no final decision, but is ...

The House of Commons - a different world

The Sun reports Nick Clegg calling for MPs to be limited to employing just one family member and for receipts to be produced for spending over £50. These are sensible suggestions. But they are very mild. That mildness gives us yet another indication that MPs are living in a different world from the rest of us. The rest of us (in most public companies) have to produce receipts for every expense.

Lets leave Afghanistan

It is time for British troops to leave Afghanistan, I was against the invasion but have been relatively happy for our troops to be there trying to sort the mess out (unlike in Iraq).

Wham Bang it's the Southwark morning bin man

It's been a long week, so why am I blogging at 8:58 on a Saturday morning, rather than catching up on sleep My friends from 'Total Cleaning Solutions... There where you need us!', contractors for Southwark Council, can answer that one. The strange activity going on above is not a cult ritual for worshippers at the temple of wheelie bins, but a vaulable cleaning service... or should I say solution... where the bottom of the large metal bins are scraped out with large metal pointy-sticks. This is not a quiet activity to carry out on tarmac, particularly not when you ...

Government Lies and BV163

The government are now saying that the "adoption target" ceased in 2006. For year 1/4/5-31/3/6 there was BV163 which was adoptions from care. This remained in year 6-7 and 7-8, but was redefined to include special guardianships. It is misleading to say that the target ended when it was redefined.

Steven Spielberg it ain't!

Its just been announced that Bristol City Council is to run a 2 year pilot to 'improve public access to the democratic processes, increase accountability and better explain the role and work of the council and its councillors.' And, just how are they going to achieve this By showing webcasts of their council meetings thats how. Great idea, don't you think However, I'm not convinced they should be kicking it off with - a webcast of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Call-In Sub-Committee. As anyone thats ever been to an overview and scrutiny management call-in sub committee meeting will tell ...

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Saturday 2nd February 2008

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